This disclosure sets forth a vehicle cleaning system in general and in particular features a nozzle suited for use in many industrial applications. One suitable application is for the cleaning of transit system vehicles such as buses. Other vehicles which can be cleaned with this apparatus include trucks, trailers, rail cars, subway cars and the like. It can be used for large or small vehicles exposed to dirt, grease and other materials comprising road grime or which otherwise accumulates on the vehicle. This apparatus is especially able to clean such vehicles by applying over the surface a distributed, set pattern for cleaning. For instance, consider the situation in cleaning a bus. Typically, a bus has a very large side wall which might be 60 feet in length and which might stand 11 feet tall. The apparatus of this disclosure accomplishes cleaning of the front, rear, sides, top and bottom of such a vehicle without rotating brushes and the like. The accumulation of road grime is typically concentrated on the lower portions of the vehicle. Also, in regions where it is necessary, salt is used to clear ice from the roadway and salt may accumulate with the grime. The salt will cause corrosive damage to the vehicle if left on the vehicle. Accordingly, it also must be removed by cleaning.
This apparatus accomplishes cleaning of regular or irregular surfaces with an extended range of high pressure water impinging on the vehicle at a narrow angle with high volume flow. The high pressure, high volume spray from the nozzles controllably sweeps over an area with an angular spray pattern to clean across a determined height. The vehicle is moved slowly in front of the nozzle which sweeps along the vehicle, cleaning a "strip" of the vehicle. Nozzle motion cleans the strip as the nozzle oscillates in a tuned fashion. This apparatus applies a set of overlapping water spray patterns to the vehicle for cleaning. It typically uses a water based solution applied in a high volume, high pressure impingement spray. The water is delivered with a suitable chemical mixture, and duplicate sets of equipment can be used to thereby attain a first application capable of spraying hot water with a detergent culminating in a last application of water which is rinse water at a reduced temperature. Notwithstanding the multitude of nozzles used in a typical installation, the consumption of water is relatively low because each nozzle cleans a relatively narrow angle surface on the vehicle in a few seconds, flowing water through small orifii thereby enabling maximum cleaning with a minimum quantity of water. Because there are no rotating brushes, the moving equipment in the apparatus is relatively minimal and the equipment which encounters wear and tear is significantly reduced.
With this in view, the apparatus of this disclosure is therefore summarized as a cleaning apparatus intended for use to clean a large variety of objects with irregular surfaces. The vehicle cleaning apparatus is positioned adjacent to the driving path of a vehicle to be cleaned, the frame supporting a rod shaped, water delivery manifold having many nozzles. The header rod is located in position by the frame to locate several nozzles for applying overlapping oscillatory spray patterns to the vehicle. One end of the header rod passes through a pivotally mounted, sliding bushing to enable the header rod to reciprocate at the urging of an eccentric throw mechanism at the opposite end of the rod. A circular stroke is applied to the rod at the lower end of the rod where the eccentric is preferably located low relative to the vehicle because the accumulation of road grime and film is typically much worse at the bottom of the vehicle. The header rod is a water supply manifold supporting a number of nozzles. The nozzles are preferably identically constructed and differ primarily in the oscillatory pattern of movement which they undertake during operation. The nozzles are constructed of a tubular hose constructed of resilient material and terminating in a weighted tip. The tip is weighted as one factor in tip control. The tuned nozzle construction and excitation determine the pattern of spray.